Retired from the University of Texas and too old to play soccer anymore. Now, in the twilight of his years, time is spent writing in this blog, hiking and exploring Texas Parks, photography, working out, gardening and tending to the five ponds he built .

Christmas 2017

I am writing this September 29 almost three full months until Christmas Day and have deliberately posted on this Special Day. I think that for the past several years, I have written something about Christmas although never three months before the actual event.

Usually, my writing has been about the commercialization of this time of the year when the significance of Christmas is lost in the chase for the almighty dollar which sadly still reigns supreme for most of the country.

This is the end of September and the first signs of this dollar madness is already showing with ads for Christmas shopping already beginning to appear. The big box stores are already selling Christmas decorations and they are only waiting for Thanksgiving to be over before decorating those stores. A lot of families who have been paying off their last years Christmas debt are hoping to have enough space on the same credit cards to repeat the process for this year. As for the kids, this is America so get them what they want. They deserve it as they are only young once. Never mind that the family is in debt to pay for the expensive goodies but if their buddy or closest friend has one, then they must have one, whatever it is.

Well, you know what, I refuse to rant and rave about it this year as I have in previous years. This is a time of reflection, of taking a good long look within yourself to see just how you as an individual, measure up. It’s not about the expensive gifts and toys that are forgotten immediately the celebrations are over or about the one upmanship that sadly intrudes upon our lives. This is all about loving thy neighbor, the guy across the street or the homeless man on the street corner who can always use a helping hand. This is a season of giving if no more than a word of thanks.

Lets celebrate Christmas the way it should be by sharing a part of us with those not so fortunate and I can guarantee that not only will each and everyone of us feel just a little bit better but that the world is a little better place.

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19 thoughts on “Christmas 2017”

Thank you for this wonderful post. I’ve been trying to point this out to friends and neighbors for several years now. It’s good to see that I am not the only one that feels that the dollar is all there is to life…

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